Weekend Wrap Up
SITTING AGAIN
It's been a great week over all. I started taking care of a little girl part-time. Amaya, I think they spell it Amayuh or something like that. Anyway she turned out to not be a brat as I expected. She acts a bit loopy when her mother is around and tends to get out of hand but for the most part she listens and is well behaved. I took her with me on Wednesday to temple and she had a blast. All kids love the temple because not only do they get to dance to great music but they get to run around with other kids making noise and no one tells them they have to stop or be quiet.
DC
On Friday I did a round trip to DC to pick up Cookie. Her dad was a little unhappy that I was getting her a day earlier because he wanted to spent her last day there hanging out but we'll make it up to him somehow. The trip was long. I left my house at 6am to get to the bus and leave on the bus by 7:10am. I got there around 1pm, hung out with Cookie and dad. He treated to lunch at a Mex-Salvadorian restaurant but then he had to run back to work. We finished up and headed back to catch the 2:30pm bus. Everything seemed OK heading out of the city but 15 minutes in the driver gets a call that tells him to avoid all the regular routes. Over the course of the trip we kept hitting pockets of traffic and ended up getting home to our house well after 10pm. Long day indeed.
RATHA YATRA
Festival of Chariots. The Hare Krsna Parade. The one time of year that I allow myself to get lost in a crowd while dancing down fifth avenue. I was having so much fun dancing that when I slipped and tore my foot along the road I simply just looked at the bubbling blood, shrugged and continued dancing. It's always great to see the folks that I haven't seen since last year's Ratha. Then hundreds and hundreds of us gather in Washington Square Park for the Festival of India. Plays, dancers, free feast, sweet association of devotees and the nectar of devotion. Cookie sat quietly in her stroller, still tired from going to bed late the night before and having to get up early the next day. But she perked right up when our friend Winnie and her daughter Bella showed up. They came with her friend and his step daughter. Three little girls all the same age having some serious love for each other. It was girlie madness. The three of them were so cute together and none of them wanted to say good bye. But the sun was going down and it was getting winding and cold so we headed home ready for a shower and relaxation.
SUNDAY FEAST
When we got to the temple the kirtan was at full go. The temple room was packed and everyone was dancing shoulder to shoulder dripping in sweat. The overlapping voices were pure ecstasy. Even though my legs were hurting from the day before I still couldn't help dance a little more. The food was great. You can never go wrong with Ratha prasadam. Always super tasty but never enough. I wanted to go back for seconds, thirds and maybe even fifths. I was good though, I only had one plate. I'm trying to keep in line with my portions. Cookie tore at her plate and didn't come up for air until she was all done. Of course big chunks of cheese curd helps. When her head popped up she saw a bunch of little girls playing she left me for almost an hour to run around and play. She was all pouty when they had to leave. All my friends left me. But then she found her long lost friend, Pishima, from the farm at Gita Nagari and she was oh so very happy. We went back in the temple room for another ecstatic kirtan and we didn't get home until after 11pm. Another late night.
We took it easy today, just hanging in the house and going over to feed my neighbors turtles. But we are going out to pick up Amaya in a little while so we will go play in the park. I am looking forward to Amaya and Cookie to meet for the first time. When they talked on the phone last week it was very cute.
It's been a great week over all. I started taking care of a little girl part-time. Amaya, I think they spell it Amayuh or something like that. Anyway she turned out to not be a brat as I expected. She acts a bit loopy when her mother is around and tends to get out of hand but for the most part she listens and is well behaved. I took her with me on Wednesday to temple and she had a blast. All kids love the temple because not only do they get to dance to great music but they get to run around with other kids making noise and no one tells them they have to stop or be quiet.
DC
On Friday I did a round trip to DC to pick up Cookie. Her dad was a little unhappy that I was getting her a day earlier because he wanted to spent her last day there hanging out but we'll make it up to him somehow. The trip was long. I left my house at 6am to get to the bus and leave on the bus by 7:10am. I got there around 1pm, hung out with Cookie and dad. He treated to lunch at a Mex-Salvadorian restaurant but then he had to run back to work. We finished up and headed back to catch the 2:30pm bus. Everything seemed OK heading out of the city but 15 minutes in the driver gets a call that tells him to avoid all the regular routes. Over the course of the trip we kept hitting pockets of traffic and ended up getting home to our house well after 10pm. Long day indeed.
RATHA YATRA
Festival of Chariots. The Hare Krsna Parade. The one time of year that I allow myself to get lost in a crowd while dancing down fifth avenue. I was having so much fun dancing that when I slipped and tore my foot along the road I simply just looked at the bubbling blood, shrugged and continued dancing. It's always great to see the folks that I haven't seen since last year's Ratha. Then hundreds and hundreds of us gather in Washington Square Park for the Festival of India. Plays, dancers, free feast, sweet association of devotees and the nectar of devotion. Cookie sat quietly in her stroller, still tired from going to bed late the night before and having to get up early the next day. But she perked right up when our friend Winnie and her daughter Bella showed up. They came with her friend and his step daughter. Three little girls all the same age having some serious love for each other. It was girlie madness. The three of them were so cute together and none of them wanted to say good bye. But the sun was going down and it was getting winding and cold so we headed home ready for a shower and relaxation.
SUNDAY FEAST
When we got to the temple the kirtan was at full go. The temple room was packed and everyone was dancing shoulder to shoulder dripping in sweat. The overlapping voices were pure ecstasy. Even though my legs were hurting from the day before I still couldn't help dance a little more. The food was great. You can never go wrong with Ratha prasadam. Always super tasty but never enough. I wanted to go back for seconds, thirds and maybe even fifths. I was good though, I only had one plate. I'm trying to keep in line with my portions. Cookie tore at her plate and didn't come up for air until she was all done. Of course big chunks of cheese curd helps. When her head popped up she saw a bunch of little girls playing she left me for almost an hour to run around and play. She was all pouty when they had to leave. All my friends left me. But then she found her long lost friend, Pishima, from the farm at Gita Nagari and she was oh so very happy. We went back in the temple room for another ecstatic kirtan and we didn't get home until after 11pm. Another late night.
We took it easy today, just hanging in the house and going over to feed my neighbors turtles. But we are going out to pick up Amaya in a little while so we will go play in the park. I am looking forward to Amaya and Cookie to meet for the first time. When they talked on the phone last week it was very cute.